Pilgrims and Sultans: The Hajj Under the Ottomans

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Description

The pilgrimage to Mecca - the hajj - is a major aspect of the Islamic religion, yet little has been written about its history or of the conditions under which thousands of pilgrims from far flung regions of the Islamic world travelled to the heart of the Arabian peninsula. This pioneering book concentrates on the pilgrimage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Mecca was ruled by the Ottoman sultans. At a time when, for the majority of the faithful, the journey was long, arduous and fraught with danger, the provision of food, water, shelter and protection for pilgrims presented a major challenge to the provincial governors of the vast Ottoman Empire. Drawing on rich documentation left by Ottoman administrators and on the accounts of contemporary pilgrims, Suraiya Faroqhi here sheds new light on the trials and experiences of everyday life for those undertaking the hajj.

Reviews

"A must for scholars of the Hajj and the Ottoman Empire." John L. Meloy, American University of Beirut

Author Bio

Suraiya Faroqhi is Professor of History at Istanbul Bilgi University and retired Professor of Ottoman Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. She is a renowned authority on Ottoman history and her previous publications include: The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It; Artisans of Empire: Crafts and Craftspeople Under the Ottomans and Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire (all I.B.Tauris). She is also co-editor of the four-volume Cambridge History of Turkey (with Kate Fleet and Reat Kasaba).